The impetus for this series was a painting I came across on the great world wide web - on someone's tumblr page, I think - which depicted a "lady gunslinger." The hat, the 6-gun, the desolate background - well, here (at right), by Robert Sammelin:
Which, while I really liked the painting, immediately reminded me of the works of Michael Whelan, who
illustrated Stephen King's Dark Tower series over the years with various incarnations of King's gunslinger, Roland. At left, Whelan's Gunslinger 88, the cover art for that year's issue of King's The Gunslinger, The Dark Tower 1.
Whelan is one of those artists whose paintings I have long found captivating, and I in front of which I would simply stand and stare. Had I been more in the vein of pursuing painting, some of my endeavor probably would have spun out from Whelan's inspiration. To view more of Whelan's paintings, you can jaunt over to his tumblr page (imagery in the main) or to his website for more details.
Having conjured the notion of depicting a "lady gunslinger," and pulling together some items for a costume, I considered that, rather than being bleak or just dramatic, the stories could be funny. I mean, why not? That thought put me in mind of Firefly (of course it did!). The Joss Whedon series, and its filmed continuation Serenity, are quite often humourous. And somewhere (a commentary, no doubt) Whedon states that he likes to inject humor into dramatic situations, and dramatic into the humourous. Contrasting the two emotional states keeps viewers engaged as their expectations get tweaked, and those contrasts can heighten the effects of both. So, yeah, why not humour?
I mean, no, I'm not writing the books (not my "thing," mind), but I did keep the humour in mind as I put the images together. Hence, as with the not-just "bleak" idea, the finished cover art stays away from "dramatic" or "tense." I also liked contrasting Darwin's gothy-punky, gun-toting image with the cleaner environment. That "look" that Darwin sports was going to be more in keeping with Whelan's and Sammelin's gunslingers, but a last minute decision had Darwin sporting that really short hair, which totally influenced the rest of the depiction. And, of course, that damn Firefly influence had me putting the story out in the stars. Which also made accessorizing the 6-gun a little easier. I already had the rest of the kit, and I didn't have quick and easy access to one of those belts with the shell loops. SO anyway --
The environment is Indianapolis. Yes, the Indiana Government Complex and the surrounding buildings struck me as being nearly perfect for a "location shoot" for some movie or TV series. The variety of architectural styles combine in a way that, with the right camera angle at any rate, could show off some other place or time - or some other civilization. You can read more of that on the Dreiser page.
"Darwin?" you wonder? I spotted one of those little "Darwin" badges on somebody's car, and said "Darwin! What a great name!" and it stuck.